Infants and other incontinent individuals wear absorbent articles such as diapers to receive and contain urine and other body exudates. Absorbent articles function both to contain the discharged materials and to isolate these materials from the body of the wearer and from the wearer's garments and bed clothing.
Diaper manufacturers have attempted to improve the appearance and function of diapers by providing a more garment like look and improving fit by introducing stretch. However, often times the features influencing fit adversely affect the appearance. For instance, disposable diapers with side stretch features have used stretch and force profiles to provide good initial fit as well as good sustained fit. Disposable diapers offering such side stretch features are often multipiece designs composed of diaper chassis with stretchable side panels bonded to and extending from at least one of the longitudinal side edges. Such multipiece designs often appear less garments-like and require decorative features to compensate. In addition, the bond extending parallel to the longitudinal side edges of the diaper causes forces to be very similar or equal along the stretch panel from top to bottom when the diaper is applied on a wearer. The equal forces result in either red marking of the skin at the top of the leg, poor sustained fit about the waist, or both. In addition, the edges of the side panels tend to fold or roll inward toward the center of the side panel exhibiting a poor fit that appears less garment-like.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a disposable absorbent article capable of providing improved initial fit, sustained fit, and reduced red marking of the wearer's skin while appearing more garment-like.